Homer's Enemy

Season 8, Episode 23, Aired
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Episode Summary

Mr. Burns hires Frank Grimes, a by-the-book perfect employee, who just doesn't fit in. He quickly takes a disliking to Homer, who despite his ineptness as a nuclear plant safety inspector and overall stupidity, remains everyone's favorite co-worker and manages to stay employed. Frank sets out to expose Homer as the safety hazard and dimwit that he is.moreless
9.1
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Superb
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Cast & Crew

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  • Julie Kavner

    Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, and Selma Bouvier

  •

    Harry Shearer

    Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Waylon Smithers, Kent Brockman, and others

  •

    Dan Castellaneta

    Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, and others

Fan Episode Reviews (32)

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  • A near perfect episode that points out nearly all that is wrong with Homer, but still leaves you loving him.

    9.7
    "Superb"
    By jekyll, Nov 26, 2011 Report Abuse
    Homer, a man whose life has been filled with unfathomable success, given his sloth, meets his polar opposite in Frank Grimes, a new employee at the power plant, whose life of hard work has given him nearly no rewards. Life continues to beat Frank down, as he get reprimanded for spilling Mr. Burns' "priceless acid," though he only did it by way of preventing Homer from drinking it. Homer even tries to smooth things over by having him over to dinner, where Frank sees Homer's home life is just as wonderfully perfect as his work life. Seeing Frank's agitation over Homer's many past accomplishments, and berating him over his ignorance and laziness, is pure joy, because even though he's 100% correct, you still love Homer.
    Driven irate that Homer's continued buffoonery has done nothing but earn him the admiration of Lenny and Carl, and Homer's pathetic attempt at becoming a model employee, he sets about a plan to discredit Homer by tricking him into entering a child's contest. Homer ends up winning, earning more praise from his co-workers, and sending Frank insane. In a final fit, Frank hilariously mimics Homer's work habits, finally electrocuting himself in the process. Even at his funeral, he can't catch a break as Homer steals the show, falling asleep and asking Marge to "change the channel."moreless

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    3 1

  • Homer's enemy.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Sami5118, Oct 21, 2010 Report Abuse
    Mr. Burns hires Frank Grimes, a by-the-book perfect employee, who just doesn't fit in. He quickly takes a disliking to Homer, who despite his ineptness as a nuclear plant safety inspector and overall stupidity, remains everyone's favorite co-worker and manages to stay employed. Frank sets out to expose Homer as the safety hazard and dimwit that he is.

    What I liked:
    * Homer is actually everyone's favorite employee despite the fact that he is really lazy and stupid.
    * Homer's enemy. He is the complete opposite of Homer and sets out to expose Homer as a safety hazard.
    * The old factory that Bart bought. He and Milhouse play there until it falls down one night.
    * Homer entering the model building contest. Even though it was for the kids, Homer still managed to win first place, which in turn, set Frank Grimes off.
    * The ending. Frank Grimes, upset with Homer winning first place in a childeren's model building contest, grabs some high voltage wires which ends his life.
    * The funeral part. Homer, who is asleep and snoring, cracks a "wrong place, wrong time" joke in his sleep. Everyone starts laughing and they all have a laugh when they are lowering the casket into the ground.

    This was a really good episode and I think that this is one of the best eps of season 8.moreless

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    2 0

  • Second favorite of the series

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Southparkfa, Oct 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    In this episode, Mr. Burns hires Frank Grimes, a by the books employee, not too far away from our reality. He immediately hates Homer, for being incompetent and too stupid for his own job. Homer tries to be nice to "Grimey", but ultimately it doesn't help him out. I like to think of this episode as South Park before South Park. It has a serious approach with Grimes' past all the way to the tragic end. Homer of course didn't want that to happen to Grimes, but he just couldn't help it. There a couple of lol moments, like Homer showing Frank his house, but for the most part there was a dark humored theme. The ending, with Grimes' mental deterrioration(blah) was a great example of this approach, and for the most part it was very enjoyable. Overall, this is an amazing episode that shows how The Simpsons can pull off some amazingly hard risks with success. 10/10 A+moreless

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    2 0

  • Homer's Enemy

    10
    "Perfect"
    By futuramarama, Oct 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    Average man Frank Grimes gets a job at the plant and has to deal with Homer's idiotic attitude. Homer tries to make friends with Grimey, but it fails. Grimey tries to show the plant how stupid Homer is, but nobody can see it. So Grimey goes insane, and eventually ends up killing himself, acting "like Homer Simpson."

    This is one of the darkest {ending}, and funniest episodes of the series. Homer's behavior was funny, I do not know why, but it was. As was the whole episode. One of the funniest ever, an A+ is easily what it gets from memoreless

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    2 0

  • A Serious Man

    10
    "Perfect"
    By sh811a, Oct 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    The Simpsons world is one I wouldn't mind visiting but I don't think I'd want to live in it. This is another one of my favorate episodes. This episode isn't really so much ha ha funny but it's more of a black comidy approach.

    I really liked that premise of what would happen if you put a character that is close to reality and put him into the Simpsons world, and as we see it's a very bad mix. The fact this episode is based off of some new unknown character is also what makes this episode awesome, it's a move that isn't commonly done and it's hit or miss. This move was a hit because they were able to develop this Frank character were we kinda cared about him and felt sympathic toward his point of view. The pain he receives and goes though is both funny and sad at the same time.

    In a way this episode is almost uncanily similar to that Coen Brothers film "A Serious Man" (heck the man protagonist of that film looks that the Frank Grimes character) only difference is this episode is just a lot more funny. However like that film it was practically about a man whose life is litterally going down the crapper and he has no idea why. One moment I thought was kinda funny in a dry sense was when Frank pointed out all the things Homer has and whey logically he shouldn't have them. When you think about it it's kinda the fundamental innconcitance in most comidy shows, how unrealistic the accomidations they receive or supposedly achieve are depending the the charcter's role.

    Two moments I laughed were one when Homer accidently hit Frank's car in the parking lot. But another was simply Frank's mental meltdown which was both really funny and disturbing at the same time as we see Frank imitate Homer, and Frank is actually on the mark about what Homer does and how he does it.

    Homer wasn't looking for trouble but he probably should of thought trouble was looking for him.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Bart rips off 2 of 3 "Building Unsound and Unsafe" signs on the deck and tosses them out the window. But when they show the deck railing the 3rd sign is missing. Edit
    • The box of doughnuts reads "donuts" at first, but it becomes "donut" after Grimes throws the acid at the wall. Edit
    • In 2006 this episode was ranked #6 in Matt Groening's list of top 10 episodes of all time. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Blackboard Joke: None. Couch Gag: The family sits down, but Bart is lime green. Homer fixes the TV, but now Bart is red. Homer then slaps Bart behind the head, getting him back to his normal color. Edit
    • Homer states Lisa's IQ is 156. Edit
    • The events that happened in this episode led to "The Great Louse Detective" in season 14. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • (Ralph submits a Malibu Stacy Dream House to the nuclear model contest) Mr. Burns: Hot tub? Media room? It's supposed to be a power plant, not Aunt Beulah's Bordello! Edit
    • (At Grimes' funeral, Homer is sleeping.) Homer: Change the channel, Marge! (Everyone laughs) Lenny: That's our Homer! Edit
    • (At the children's nuclear power plant contest) Mr. Burns: (to Homer) Could you explain your model, young man? Grimes: (from audience) What's to explain? He's an idiot! Lenny: Pipe down! Homer: Well basically, I just copied the plant we have now. Mr. Burns: Hmmm. Homer: Then, I added some fins to lower wind resistance. And this racing stripe here I feel is pretty sharp. Mr. Burns: Agreed. First prize. (gives Homer a blue ribbon) Grimes: What?! Carl: Way to go, Homer! Lenny: You're number one, Homer! Grimes: But it, it was a contest for children!! Lenny: Yeah! And Homer beat their brains out! (audience applauds Homer) Edit

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